James Milner has been left out of the Aston Villa squad to play Walsall FC tomorrow night.

A statement from Aston Villa said that Milner, who has been the subject of a £20 million pursuit by Manchester City, will not feature in the match at the Banks's Stadium.

However, he will be in Martin O'Neill's travelling party who play in Portugal later this week.

The club statement said: "James Milner trained with the rest of the Villa squad today at Bodymoor Heath.

"He and the manager, along with chief executive Paul Faulkner and the player’s representative, Matthew Buck, had an amicable conversation and, while James will not play in tomorrow’s game at Walsall, he will fly with the squad to Portugal on Wednesday ahead of the Guadiana Cup in which Villa will compete with Benfica and Feyenoord this weekend."

The news comes after Martin O'Neill admitted that Milner was for sale at the right place after the England star had intimated a desire to leave the club before the World Cup.

It is believed that Aston Villa want a deal worth in the region of £30 million to let Milner leave the club.